


One Heartbeat

by princesschinatsu



Category: Daredevil (Comics)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-11
Updated: 2017-08-11
Packaged: 2018-12-14 00:37:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11771805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princesschinatsu/pseuds/princesschinatsu
Summary: Essentially a rework of Matt's character and his relationship to Elektra, drawing from several of the more recent Daredevil runs and the TV show.My own interpretation/wish for the characters so may not be canon compliant in every instance. ((i.e. extremely self-indulgent, but when is fanfic not?))





	One Heartbeat

**Author's Note:**

  * For [karples](https://archiveofourown.org/users/karples/gifts).



> A messy draft. Would love feedback. May eventually be reposted as a more polished version.

            “Matthew!” Elektra shouted upwards.

            Matt could barely manage a grunt in response. Everything in him was focused on one thought: _don’t let go_.

            His hands were getting sweaty, a memory of the first time he had held her hand floated through his mind.

            ‘Oh god Matt, don’t fucking do this now. _Focus._ ’

            Elektra could feel him edging too far over the edge; a necessary compromise in order to absolutely never ever let go. The thought of her being the cause of Matt’s demise came to her once more. For a brief moment, it almost seemed appealing. Like a lover’s suicide in those old poems she had heard of when she was in Japan.

            But Elektra quickly reprimanded herself for the thought.

            “Matthew, let go! You’ll only fall with me!” She shouted, while shifting the grip of her other hand on the sai.

            “Elektra… if you… do what I think you’re going to… I will fall down after you… so help me…”

            She always hated that about him. How sometimes, generally in the most inconvenient moments, he could sense what she was thinking. Probably another irritating ‘sense’ that he had forgotten to account for.

            Frustration welled up within her as her mind raced to find a way, some way, to convince Matt that she was not worth it. As if her past behavior didn’t amount to enough evidence on that point.

            Matt, once he realized Elektra’s intentions, was faced with one simple thought.

            You’re going to watch her die again.

            Something inside him snapped. 

* * *

 

            They were both breathing so heavily that it felt like they would both crumble if not for the other. They sat on the roof of the building without moving for what felt like an eternity.

            Matt was the first to speak.

            “I’m sorry.”

            Elektra opened her eyes, her face still burrowed in Matt’s quavering chest. She slowly pulled away, confusion etched into her so deeply that Matt felt it immediately.

            “Why?” She said slowly, hesitantly. Then, more forcefully “Why did you do that? Don’t ever risk your life for me like that…” Her breath caught, she was near tears.

            The unspoken words hung in the air.

            “I’m not worth it.”

            Sometimes, things that are not said sound louder.

            “No, Elektra…” Matt interrupted, “I’m so sorry. It’s all my fault.”

            “How? How is it your fault Matthew? I chose this path, everything that lead up to my death, everything that lead up to now. But you,” She was so close to sobbing.

            “Because, Elektra!” Matt was shouting as well, and had grabbed Elektra’s shoulders. “Because, I let you blame yourself. Because I knew you lay everything at your own feet, that you never once thought that I had failed you. Which I had.”

            He too, was near tears.

            “God, Elektra… I never told you. I was so, so desperate to preserve my pride, my image in your eyes, that I let you keep hurting yourself. The night you died, all I could think of was why I wasn’t enough. Oh god, why wasn’t I enough?”

            Elektra was stunned. Tears had been streaming down her face but she couldn’t feel them.

            “And after you died, even after you came back, I was so desperate to erase you from my heart. The pain was just too much, and I was a coward. Any willing woman would do. But you already know all that.”

            “Matthew…”

            “What I never told you, Elektra, is that when you told me that I still never let anyone in, the reason for that was because if I had ever let anyone in my heart, I would have had to admit that I love you, and that that was not enough.”

            He let his grip on her shoulders fall away completely. When Elektra reached out for him, he hesitated before letting himself fall into her.

            No words were exchanged, as she silently kissed him and wrapped her arms around him tight.

            “I never…” Matt began with his head resting on her shoulder, “Elektra, I never thought that you had failed me. Please believe that.”

            Elektra sniffed and burrowed her face in the crook of his neck, making a small nodding move. Matt turned to kiss her head, to show he had felt her answer.        

* * *

            There was one more thing that Matt had never told Elektra.

            And it happened in that moment.

            Sometimes, and only when Matt held Elektra, his heartbeat would melt into hers until they were in perfect sync.

            One heartbeat.

            Holding her then, all he could hear was her, her, _her_.


End file.
